For decades, a salaried professional in Bengaluru who dreamed of owning a patch of farmland outside the city ran into a wall written into law. Unless you could show you were an agriculturist, or that your income from outside farming stayed below a set ceiling, the state simply would not let you buy agricultural land. Then, in 2020, that wall came down. Buying agricultural land in Karnataka is now open to people it was closed to for a generation, which is a genuine opportunity and, in equal measure, a set of new traps for the unwary.

The short answer. In 2020, Karnataka repealed Sections 79A and 79B of its Land Reforms Act, the provisions that had barred non-agriculturists and companies from acquiring farmland. Since then, any resident Indian citizen, whatever their profession or income, and Indian entities that were previously shut out, can legally buy agricultural land in the state. The upside is obvious, since a whole class of buyers is now eligible. The trade-off is that other limits stay firmly in place, on how much you can hold, on building anything, and on certain protected categories of land. Quick fact: since the 2020 amendment repealed Sections 79A and 79B, buying agricultural land in Karnataka no longer requires an agricultural background or an income below a ceiling.

This guide explains what the 2020 reform changed, who can buy now, the restrictions that survive, the question of building on the land, and whether the old rules could return.

What changed in 2020 for buying agricultural land in Karnataka?

The change was the repeal of two long standing gatekeeper provisions. Section 79A had prohibited the acquisition of agricultural land by people whose income from non-agricultural sources rose above a statutory ceiling, which in practice kept most salaried professionals and business owners out. Section 79B went further and barred companies, trusts, educational institutions and similar bodies from holding agricultural land at all, and required that a holder personally cultivate the land. Together they made farmland a closed market for anyone who was not, in the eyes of the law, a farmer.

The Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Act of 2020 removed both. By repealing Sections 79A and 79B, the state dismantled the prohibition on non-agriculturists and institutions buying farmland, and with it the requirement to prove an agricultural background before you could purchase. For a Bengaluru buyer, that single change reopened a category of property that had been off limits for most of their working life.

Who can buy agricultural land in Karnataka now?

The short version is that the profession and income tests are gone. A resident Indian citizen can now buy agricultural land in Karnataka regardless of whether they farm, and regardless of how much they earn from a job or a business. The salaried engineer, the doctor, the shop owner, all of whom Section 79A would once have blocked, are now eligible buyers on the same footing as a cultivator.

The repeal of Section 79B also reopened the door to Indian companies, trusts and institutions that the old law had kept out, so entities as well as individuals can now hold agricultural land in the state. One caution is worth stating plainly, because eligibility under state law is not the whole picture. Central rules under foreign exchange law separately restrict who among non-resident buyers may acquire agricultural land, so a non-resident should take specific advice rather than assume the state repeal covers them. For resident Indians, though, the state gate is genuinely open.

What restrictions still apply after the repeal?

Opening the gate did not remove every rule behind it. Several important limits survived the 2020 amendment untouched, and a buyer who assumes farmland is now a free for all will be caught by them. The table sets out the main ones.

Read the ceiling row and the conversion row as the two that most often surprise buyers. You cannot accumulate unlimited farmland, because a family level ceiling still caps how much you may hold, and you cannot simply treat the land as a housing plot, because turning it to non-agricultural use needs a separate approval. The repeal changed who may buy, not what the land may be used for or how much of it one buyer may own.

Can you build on the land, or must you convert it first?

This is where the most expensive misunderstanding hides. Buying agricultural land does not, by itself, give you the right to build a house on it. So long as the land remains classified as agricultural, any construction is meant to be ancillary to farming, the tool shed, the pump room, a modest caretaker structure, rather than a home. To build a residence, you must first have the land converted to non-agricultural use through the process the law provides.

That conversion is a formal step, not a formality, and it is exactly the check a plot buyer relies on. Our guide to DC conversion of agricultural land in Karnataka walks through how a piece of farmland becomes a buildable plot, and why a layout sold as ready for houses must show that conversion has actually been done. A buyer who pays a residential price for land that is still agricultural on the records has bought a field, not a home site, and the gap between the two is measured in years and approvals.

What is the risk from granted or protected land?

Some agricultural land carries a history that no amendment erased. Land granted by the government to members of protected communities is governed by the Prevention of Transfer of Certain Lands, or PTCL, Act, which restricts its sale, and a transfer made in breach of those conditions can be reopened and set aside long after it happened. Other categories, such as gomala, or common grazing land, forest land and tank bed land, are restricted or barred from private sale under their own statutes. None of this changed in 2020.

For a buyer, this means the identity and history of the specific parcel matter as much as the general right to buy. The records tell that story, and reading them is not optional. Our guide to the RTC, pahani and mutation records in Karnataka shows how the land record reveals the classification, the ownership history and any note of a grant, which is where a protected or granted status usually surfaces before it becomes your problem.

Could Sections 79A and 79B come back?

This is a live question, and an honest buyer guide has to name it. The repeal was politically contested from the start, and in September 2024 the state government publicly announced an intention to restore Sections 79A and 79B. As matters stand, that intention has not been turned into enacted law, so the repeal remains in effect and non-agriculturists can still buy. But the direction of travel is a genuine uncertainty a long term buyer should factor in.

What a restoration would mean for land already bought is not something to guess at, and it is precisely the kind of point on which to take current legal advice rather than rely on a general article. The sensible reading today is that the door is open now, that there is political pressure to narrow it, and that anyone buying should keep their paperwork clean and their timeline in mind rather than assume the present rules are permanent.

What should a buyer verify before buying agricultural land?

Run these checks before you commit to any agricultural parcel.

1. Confirm the land is classified as agricultural and read its full RTC and mutation history.
2. Check the record for any note of a government grant, which can signal PTCL protected land.
3. Rule out gomala, forest and tank bed classifications, which are restricted from private sale.
4. If you intend to build, confirm whether conversion to non-agricultural use has been done.
5. Check that the purchase keeps you within the family landholding ceiling that still applies.
6. Verify the seller's title and boundaries independently, as you would for any land.
7. Take current legal advice on the eligibility rules, given the proposal to restore them.

These checks matter whether you buy raw farmland or a plotted development carved from it. When you consider a plotted project such as Assetz Palmscape plots in Devanahalli, the same questions apply to the specific plot, its classification, its conversion status and its clean title, not just to the eligibility that lets you buy in the first place.

The honest summary is that 2020 handed Bengaluru buyers a real opening, and a real responsibility to use it carefully. The right to buy agricultural land is now yours if you are a resident Indian, but the ceiling, the conversion requirement and the protected categories are all still standing, and the eligibility itself sits under a political cloud. Buy with the records read, the classification confirmed and a lawyer's view in hand, and the opportunity is genuine. Buy on the headline alone, and the traps the reform left in place are still very much there.

Can a non-farmer buy agricultural land in Karnataka?

Yes. Since the 2020 amendment repealed Sections 79A and 79B, a resident Indian citizen can buy agricultural land in Karnataka regardless of profession or non-agricultural income. The old requirement to be an agriculturist, or to earn below an income ceiling, no longer applies to residents buying farmland in the state.

Do you still need to convert agricultural land to build a house?

Yes. Buying agricultural land does not give you the right to build a home on it. While the land stays agricultural, construction must be ancillary to farming, such as a tool shed or pump room. To build a residence, you must first convert the land to non-agricultural use through the state process.

What restrictions remain after Sections 79A and 79B were repealed?

Several. A family landholding ceiling under Section 63 still caps how much you may hold, conversion under Section 109 is needed for non-agricultural use, and granted land under the PTCL Act, along with gomala, forest and tank bed land, remains restricted from private sale. The repeal changed eligibility, not these limits.

Could Karnataka bring back the old restrictions on buying farmland?

Possibly. In September 2024 the state government announced an intention to restore Sections 79A and 79B, but as things stand that has not become enacted law, so the repeal remains in effect. A long term buyer should treat the present eligibility as open now but politically uncertain, and take current advice.

Last updated 2026-07-10. PropNewz Team.